FRESHERS ISSUE 2023 SCAN Lancaster University

16
M u s i c
SCANLU SCANLancaster scan.lancastersu.co.uk
MUSIC EDITORS:
Valentina Caneschi
& Lexi Joyce
Revolutionising the Music Industry:
Taylor Swift and Her Re-Recordings
Valentina Caneschi
MUSIC EDITOR
You might not be a massive fan like me
and at least other 300 people at Lancaster
University (data gathered from the biggest
event held by the Swift Society, official
since 2022), but you have certainly heard
of her name: Taylor Swift.
The queen herself, the music industry.
Songwriter, singer, musician, actor, director, and
multi-awarded woman, winning 12 Grammys, an
Emmy award, 14 MTV Music awards, and many
more.
She was the first country singer in history to win
an MTV Music award and the most streamed
female artist in both 2021 and 2022 on Spotify.
And if you’re still not sure she’s gotten your
respect, just know that she is the biggest cat
person and owns not one, not two, but three
wonderful cats.
Unfortunately, though,
some people still don’t
recognise her value as a
person, and only see her
as a money machine.
As I’m writing this, I have a very specific man in
mind: Scooter Braun. In 2019, all of Taylor Swift’s
six albums recorded between 2005 and 2018 were
sold to him and his studio, giving the singer little
to no right to her own music.
However, Taylor was far from giving it up. As a
matter of fact, in the same year, she announced
she was going to re-record every single one of
those six albums, gaining back control of her
early creations.
On the 9th of April 2021, the songwriter released
her first re-recording, picking her country pop
album Fearless (2008) as the subject.
Songs such as You Belong With Me and Love
Story made her a mainstream icon back in 2008,
and she didn’t hesitate to show Scooter Braun
and the world who really was the artifice of her
accomplishments: herself.
Lexi Joyce
MUSIC EDITOR
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was a gigantic success,
the fifth best-selling album in the entirety of
2021 in the United States, and topping the music
charts in many countries, including the United
Kingdom, which brought it in the top 10 most
sold albums of the year globally.
Other than the original
songs, she added what
she calls ‘From the Vault’
songs, pieces that had
been deleted from the
original album before
release.
In Fearless (Taylor’s Version) we can find six of
these songs, including You All Over Me, featuring
Maren Morris, That’s When, featuring Keith
Urban, and the most famous Fearless TV Vault
song (and my personal favourite) Mr. Perfectly
Fine.
Following this unprecedented re-recording
success, Taylor Swift announced her second
re-release, which happened on the 12th of
November 2021, just seven months after Fearless
(Taylor’s Version). The subject of this release was
Red (2012), to which she added the most ‘From
the Vault’ songs so far: eight.
Amongst them, Nothing New, featuring the
queer artist Phoebe Bridgers, Run, featuring Ed
Sheeran, and the biggest hit amongst the Vault
songs, I Bet You Think About Me, featuring Chris
Stapleton.
Red (Taylor’s Version) was critically received
even better than the previous re-recording, and
won many awards, amongst which the Billboard
Music Award for Top Country Album.
Miss Swift even added a 10-minute version of the
acclaimed song All Too Well. She also directed a
short film, All Too Well: The Short Film, starring
Sadie Sink, Dylan O’Brien, and Taylor Swift
herself, which won the Best Music Video Award
at the Grammys in 2023.
More recently, on the 7th of July 2023, Taylor
Swift released her third re-recorded album,
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), based on Speak
Now (2010), after a break in which she released
the completely new album Midnights (2022).
The new re-recording was announced on the 5th
of May of this year during one of her concerts on
the US leg of the Eras Tour, her first tour since she
had to cancel the Lover tour due to the COVID-19
outbreak.
The six ‘From the Vault’ songs include Electric
Touch, featuring Fall Out Boy, Castles Crumbling,
featuring Paramore’s lead singer Hayley Williams,
and I Can See You, the most streamed not only
Vault, but Speak Now (TV) song since its release.
I Can See You also received a music video
starring the singer as well as Joey King and
Taylor Lautner, which, as of September 2023, has
almost 30 million views on YouTube. At the end
of the music video, Taylor even placed an Easter
egg, proving that the next re-recording would be
based on her first completely pop album 1989
(2014).
Every Swiftie in the globe
is now patiently waiting for
the recently announced
re-recording 1989 (Taylor’s
Version), due to be
released on the 27th of
October. When the artist
announced the album on
Instagram, she added in
her caption that it is her
favourite re-recording so
far.
It should come as no surprise that she is
emotionally attached to the album, as it made
her even more of an icon than she already was,
featuring incredibly famous songs such as Shake
It Off and Blank Space.
The album will contain five new songs ‘From The
Vault’, other than the original sixteen, and it is
predicted to be an enormous success. After all,
this is Taylor Swift we’re talking about.
What 2023 Album You Are Based on your College
Bowland
Fylde
Furness
It is a certainty that Miss Swift will not stop at
1989 (Taylor’s Version). Fans believe she will
reclaim her two final albums before the end of
the Eras Tour.
They speculate she will release Reputation
(Taylor’s Version) first, to then finish her whole
re-recording experience with the album she
debuted with as a singer and songwriter back in
2006, Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).
However, many fans seem to strongly believe that
after 1989 (TV) she will release the ‘lost album’
Karma, the album she fully wrote and recorded,
due to air in 2016, but that was never released
due to the situation Taylor Swift was in with
the press, which led instead to the writing and
release of Reputation the following year.
Is it now the time for her to
finally show her fans what
she worked on before her
name was unjustly stepped
on?
Taylor is an unprecedented artist, earning the
success she rightly deserves. Her re-recorded
albums revolutionised the music industry, as she
had already done by spacing throughout genres
and topping charts in every single one of them.
Even if you’re not a fan of her music, her cheery
personality, her political efforts, her love for cats,
her alliance with just causes, and her wonderful
achievements should be enough for you to
admire Miss Swift.
Photos (left to right): @taylorswift13 on X, Faber & Faber, @ebruyildiz
on Instagram
Lancaster’s nine colleges all have their
own fun quirks. Some are more rowdier,
being party centrals for any hit flat party.
Others are more obscure and quiet. So,
here’s some albums based on your colleges!
Graduate
Rolling Stone describes it as “never being short on
bad times and lacerating observations” and this
reminds me of a cheeky night in Bowland Trough.
Heavy rock and sentimental emotion, Queens never
miss.
Jackman by Jack Harlow has some great hype music,
perfect for the sporty college. Harlow’s most flexible and
rhythmic work, sharing his experiences on growing up
around toxic masculinity and the joys of his adulthood.
This album feels like being in the Lake
District, peaceful, and haunting. Chilling
harmonies and folky vibes, pair perfectly with
the woodland, relaxed vibe of Furness.
A masterful album, very articulate and crafted
to the Gods of perfection. Which reminded
me of graduate students pursuing their best
desires and qualities.
CONTINUED
ON PAGE 18